Great stuf!

Nike have a lot to lose if Cleveland lose today! ;)

Those Ads are crack up! LMAO!

well there you go - they are already advertising a Kobe v LeBron Finals - before it even happens just like the LA v Celtics rivalry thing last year

Remember the time the LAkers beat the much better team Portland years ago to have the Magic v Jordan showdown .. same thing Kobe v LeBron ... so plainly obvious

I'm so over the conspiracy theories



David Aldridge
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Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
Finals conspiracy theories prove to be as durable as tinfoil

By David Aldridge, TNT Analyst
Posted May 28 2009 12:03PM

Another year, another run on tinfoil at your local Safeway, Piggly Wiggly or Ralph's.

Every year, every nutbag with a computer and a complete lack of imagination writes some version of the following: David Stern wants the Lakers and (fill in the blank team here) in the Finals. You know the refs are gonna make that happen. The NBA is rigged. It's no better than pro wrestling.

I can't tell you how many people have been on Facebook with some variation of this. Isn't David Stern gonna be mad if Orlando and Denver are in the Finals? David Stern wants Kobe and LeBron in the Finals. David Stern must really be ticked off.

Every year, these podunks say, Stern, an unnamed cabal of referees, executives from ESPN, ABC and Turner, Phil Knight, Craig Sager's tailor -- and, occasionally and just for laughs, Carrot Top -- get together and make sure that the only teams in the Finals are from major-market cities. The theory goes that the NBA, desperate to regain the ratings it had in the Jordan Era, manipulates the Playoffs to ensure its biggest stars play in its biggest series. Because only the NBA is concerned with high ratings for its championship series/game. Bud Selig couldn't care less if Toronto and San Diego are in the World Series. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman loves an Edmonton-Florida Stanley Cup Final. PGA commish Tim Finchem would be delighted if Tiger misses the cut at the Masters.

Now, you know where you're reading this, and you may know what I do for a living. So you can dismiss this as butt-covering by a league apologist who works for one of its television partners, or that I doth protest too much. Can't stop you if your car is already going down that road.

But over 25 or so years in this profession, I like to deal in things that us fancy-pants reporters call "facts." Here are some:

The San Antonio Spurs have won four NBA titles since 1999.

The Spurs are ratings death.

They are ratings death because you all, in the main, are rank hypocrites. More on that later.

The longer a playoff series goes, the more people watch. (You can look this up, or you can trust me. It's true.) So a seven-game series is ratings gold.

In the last 10 Finals series, there have been two 4-0 sweeps (in 2002 and '07), three five-game series ('99, '01 and '04) and four six-game series ('00, '03, '06 and '08). Only one series has gone the full, ratings-exploding seven -- San Antonio's 4-3 victory over Detroit in '05. Which, again, you didn't watch, 'cause the Spurs were in it. If the league is rigging the Finals for maximum viewership, it's doing a lousy job. (By the way, do you know how many times Michael Jordan's Bulls played a seven-game Finals series? Zero. Out of six.)

read the rest on nba.com.

it's all about Kobe vs LeBron in the Finals - that's what the NBA is marketing so hard this year and will do everything in their power through the refs to get it

Don't ever mean they will just hand it but give all the advantages to the "right" team especially in a critical situation. Laugh all you want but you don't think the powers that be have an influence. If you were earning in the 6 figures in the NBA in cushy job as a ref- and you know the Commish just happens to say, nudge wink - say you missed a few calls on Howard the other day and tech or you know LeBron is driving hard and you know maybe he is getting hacked on the way - would just say oh yeah whatever nad NOT ever referee in a Finals

Judge it by the refs and non calls calls - it's sometime too obvious

but sometimes one team is just too damn good they buck the system (spurs). The league learnt it's lesson when they had the Spurs - Nets Finals and Spurs- Pistons - ratings doom.

Nowadays it's marketing. That's why the LAkers will always be favoured (vs Portland, Sacramento etc) or individual superstars. Now as long as a superstar/big name team are in the Finals - it don't really matter who they play. you just won't see a Sacramneto vs Nets (greta teams with no bonafide superstar) or heaven forbid Orlando v Denver !!!

this pretty much says it all for the writer "Now, you know where you're reading this, and you may know what I do for a living" - yes, you make a living out of writing about the NBA - no NBA no cushy job !!! go tow the company line and defend the product

To dismiss the idea the refs have any direct impact on the outcome of the game biased towards one team (ahem, one with a superstar in Kobe on its roster) is simply ignorant.


David Stern isn't going to fix the problem because to him it isn't a problem. If people can't see that there is some funny business going on in the NBA they aren't really paying attention.

Those ad's are hilarious!!
"How do you stop something thats so unstoppable?"
"Beef and Broccoli...yeah"
"Is the answer to this question...another question?"
"That was Mrs Lewis from Downstairs..she said you aint got defense"

I could watch those all day.... :)

Good find!

Perhaps the NBA focused on the Kobe v Lebron matchup because they had the best record in their respective conference.

The final 4 teams left in the race have 4 of the biggest names in the game - I don't think the NBA would be too disappointed as all teams play high scoring games with plenty of highlights.

The refs are under huge pressure - try calling it correct every time when a 6-9, 260 lbs athlete comes down the lane at full speed and makes contact with a 7-0, 280 lbs defender. You could make a case that 'technically' Lebron is getting fouled nearly every time he drives - hand checks, bumps, 2 hands in the back etc etc.

If the refs really wanted CLE to win Game 4, they would have called a foul on Howard diving into Delonte for that last rebound in regulation, or on Howard for grabbing Varejo on the last lob play (it could have gone either way - a good non call) Or on Howard on Lebron as he pumped fake the 3 in OT.

Need I go on.

Everyone is reading way too much into this..Can't you just appreciate the ads for their humour, because they are soo funny :D
Plus, the advertisements aren't directly related to the playoffs anyway. They represent the race to the MVP Between Kobe and Lebron, which in theory was extremely close between 2 of the best players in the game.

"The refs are under huge pressure " yeah they sure are - especially when the boss man is looking at them -and you know the bossman who is paying you 6 figure slary wants a "dream" Lebron - Kobe finals

Great article post mystro! That and Lebron not making the finals I hope we see the last of this idiot dcanwade!